ONCE UPON A TIME Post-Mortem: Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis Talk ‘New York Serenade’ and What Comes Next

[This post contains spoilers for the March 9th episode of ONCE UPON A TIME, “New York Serenade.” If you haven’t seen the midseason premiere, please go watch that first, and then come back here to see what executive producers Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis have to say about what went down and what’s to come.]

ONCE UPON A TIME kicked off its second half of the season with a bang: Emma got her memories back (thanks to a potion from Hook); the characters are back in Storybrooke thanks to a new curse that has erased the past year from their mind; and viewers met, briefly, the Wicked Witch.

After a screening of the hour, ONCE UPON A TIME executive producers Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis talked with reporters about what went down and what’s to come…

What is Zelena’s plan?

Viewers only got the quickest introduction to Zelena (AKA the Wicked Witch), but her devious ways will be further explored in the next few episodes.

“The vengeance she wants to enact is exactly what we’re going to get into in the next episode,” Horowitz teased.

“I think that when we learn more about the Wicked Witch and her backstory and what happened, we’ll understand that what she has against Regina is kind of a global problem, and internal problem,” Kitsis added. “But I think we can tease those two are definitely going to get into it…What we were excited about for this second half is we’re flashing back to the year that was, so that every episode we’re kind of unloading this mystery of ‘what happened, who cursed us, and who is this crazy green woman?’ And as far as her origin story, we’re going to reveal that in episode 16 which is entitled, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green.'”

But will Zelena’s story include another appearance of Chris Gorham (Walsh), who after Emma rejected his proposal, revealed himself to be a flying monkey (who is also a helper of Zelena)? “Perhaps,” is all the producers would say.

Should Hook trust the motives of whomever sent him to retrieve Emma?

Things are rarely as simple as they seem in ONCE UPON A TIME, and it appears there will be more to Hook’s mission to get Emma than viewers were led to believe.

“It could be a trap,” Kitsis allowed. “[The instructions] could be sent from someone different than who he said. Or it could be sent from who he thought it was sent from. But that is a mystery we are going to spend an entire episode [on later in the season].”

“We’re going to learn about what happened to Hook in that year and what led to him getting that message,” Horowitz added.

Will Henry get his memory back?

With Emma now aware that her history with Henry is a lot more complicated — and heartbreaking — than she spent the last year believing, the question now turns to whether Henry will have his real memories returned to him anytime soon.

“That is something that is important: as we know, he’s the heart of the truest believer,” Kitsis pointed out. “And so to see Henry without [that knowledge], the guy who started this whole thing by reading a book and believing it was real, not have his memories, that’s something we’re going to play with. And certain people would love for his memories — like Regina, obviously — to come back right away, but if you were thinking, maybe, you were happier in New York, you’re not in such a rush to wake him up.”

But even if the time comes for Henry’s real memories to return to him, his path won’t be as easy as simply swallowing a memory potion.

“The road to whether he gets his memory back or not is a complicated one that will not be as simple as concocting a potion,” Horowitz teased. “The false memories that were put into Henry…that allowed him to be in New York with Emma, those were good and happy memories. In that intervening year, that was all real. So everything they went through was all real. Henry had a pretty good year. So that will be something that really complicates things for everyone.”

“What is best for him?” added Kitsis. “He has two mothers, and…Emma has been very reluctant to really embrace this life. Where home is, is going to be a big question for the second half of the season.”

What’s the deal with this new Storybrooke?

The EPs confirmed that the characters can do magic in the new Storybrooke and all of the events that took place during previous curse still occurred, but Kitsis noted that this time around, “there may be some new people [in town]. You’ll never know who shows up.”

“There were certain protected areas and people who didn’t make it over,” Horowitz pointed out. “This time, maybe there are some other people who make it over.”

Where does Emma’s heart stand now?

“Emma’s got a lot to deal with, in addition to [Hook and Neal], as you’ve seen from the end of this episode, she’s drawn back into a newly cursed Storybrooke with a son who doesn’t have his memories,” Horowitz said.” So her heart is all over the place, and her priorities are her family and saving them first.”

“In a lot of ways, Emma started off the season, as she said, she felt like an orphan; she didn’t want to have magic, she didn’t want this to be her life,” Kitsis added. “And then when you see her in New York, you see she enjoyed that life. As you’ll see in the second half of the season, it’s going to really have to force Emma to make a decision about what she wants to do with her future. She can’t continue to hedge.”

With Snow being pregnant — and having no memory of the past year — is there any question about who the baby’s father is?

No, the show isn’t trying to add extra relationship drama for the Charming family: Snow’s baby is Charming’s, the producers confirmed.

“It’s Charming’s,” Horowitz laughed. “But, that said, there is a lot to be discovered about what happened in that intervening year.”

When will we find out whether Rumple can be saved?

Belle and Neal only briefly touched on the notion of being able to revive Rumple in “New York Serenade,” but as the producers previously teased, that’s just the launching point of a bigger storyline.

“I’d say in the next episode [addresses Rumple more significantly],” Horowitz teased. “There’s discussion of him in 12, but the discussion moves to another place in 13.”